After a long wait that even had to be extended for another year due to the global pandemic emergency, the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games baseball tournament is here and the Dominican Republic national team will have the honors of opening the competition against hosts Japan.
After several attempts at the Premier12 World Cup and the 2021 Americas Pre-Olympic, the Dominican Republic team earned its ticket to the 2020 Tokyo games at the Final Pre-Olympic held in Puebla, Mexico, a tournament in which they finished undefeated after defeating Venezuela in the final.
The Quintana Roo baseball team returns to the Olympic Games after 29 years after making its historic debut in Barcelona 1992, the first edition in which baseball was part of the program.
In that edition, the Dominican team finished in sixth place with a 2-5 record. Their biggest defeat in that edition of the tournament was precisely against Japan, a game in which they lost 17-0. For the inaugural game of baseball at the Olympics, manager Héctor Borg announced as his starter Christopher Mercedes, who has pitched since 2017 with the Yomiuri Giants in the Japanese baseball league (NPB). Meanwhile, Japanese manager Atsunori Inaba designated Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who had an incredible 1.82 ERA in 16 starts with the Orix Buffaloes in the 2021 NPB season.
Where to watch Olympic baseball:
Dominican Republic vs. Japan Date: Tuesday, July 27, 2021 Time: 11 p.m. Dominican Republic, 10 p.m. Central Mexico. Venue: Fukushima Azuma Baseball Stadium Channel: Claro RD, Claro Sports Latinoamérica, NBC in the U.S. Online: Marca Claro
